Atari2600PAL

Friday at 06:08 PM

11 hours ago, Atari2600PAL said:

I can take most of the pictures I want to use myself, which I'd be happy to add to a stock collection, but getting a nice image of a console/PEB/Screen combination for the homepage is the real problem

Have taken a picture of one of my consoles for the homepage for now, sat it on a white sheet and stripped out the background of the image.

Will have to make a cardboard box lined with white paper or something for taking pictures of more stuff

Friday at 06:23 AM

5 hours ago, Ksarul said:

I have never seen a specific repository of stock photos, as most of the web sites with the photos you're looking for took their own pictures and put them up. Setting up something for the more common items might not be a bad idea though. . .

I can take most of the pictures I want to use myself, which I'd be happy to add to a stock collection, but getting a nice image of a console/PEB/Screen combination for the homepage is the real problem

Thursday at 10:04 AM

Have decided to start my own small website about my adventures with my 99

I was wondering if there was a source of stock (free to use) TI-99 related images available anywhere please?

Initially am just looking for an image of a console & peb for my holding page

Will try to make my own photos as well in the longer term

Many thanks

September 18

I was able to use my old 5th Gen iPod with just a stereo splitter lead and plugging the TI cable into left or right cable and then adjusted the settings to maximise output to left or right

September 14

On 8/30/2023 at 10:08 AM, Atari2600PAL said:

Thanks @ti99iuc

I have a spare genuine TI binder (got it from @arcadeshopper with EA in it, but in the end didn't need it as I got a free sealed copy of EA - long story) so will use that for my self printed UCSD manuals (if I don't find an original). I have a 750 sheet ream of US Letter paper on its way which will hopefully be enough if I print both sides.

Finally finished printing out all the UCSD manuals on US Letter paper to fit an original TI binder

Had to settle for paper rather than card section covers

Didn't realise just how much ink I'd get thru, but I definitely ordered too much paper (forgot I was printing double sided!)

September 13

Deleted

September 11

I seem to get both sellers on mine, but no items…

September 7

2 minutes ago, OLD CS1 said:

That is a nice external drive case.

It's a Cumana drive case for a BBC Micro, fits nicely on top of PEB

It's a bit of a shame the case cover is beige, but I guess I could respray the case a better match to the PEB sometime if it starts bugging me

September 7

After a lot of swapping around I finally settled on DSK1=5.25 (PEB), DSK2=GoTek (PEB), DSK3=5.25 (External), DSK4=5.25 (External Beige)

Had to make my own ribbon cable out of the cable that came with it and sort out the jumpers and termination

The only strange thing is that when I use the CorComp Manager to catalog a disk that is zeroed for P-Code the manager complains the disk is too large for the drive, so I need to go back and test formatting a DSDD Disk in case it's not just p-code but a bigger problem

EDIT: P-code disk problem has gone away (no idea what that was about, maybe boot order or something)

image.jpeg.99e1de606026cbbcf479810c627ac7fd.jpeg

September 2

On 8/27/2023 at 9:46 PM, OLD CS1 said:

No one is ever too old for memes.

Or soup

September 2

“Resistance is futile?” Worked for the Borg…

September 2

Change of plan

Have refitted the drives back in the PEB as DSK1 & DSK3

Have a dual external box coming this week that currently contains a 5.25" floppy (will be DSK4) along with a GoTek (will be DSK2) in it (will need to change the connector from IDC to edge connector to fit the FDC though)

If I don't get on with the GoTek I'll fit either the spare 5.25" or the spare 3.5" and resell the GoTek

Thanks again for all the advise

September 2

I replaced the Idc connector on the existing drives ribbon cable with an edge connector for fitting to the external connector on the FDC (I now wish I hadn't shortened the ribbon previously!) and put the drives in the external case as DSK1 & DSK4 (for now)

That was a huge mistake as they didn't work (lights came on, but no disk movement)

When I checked the voltages the 5v line was ok, but the 12v was showing as 3v (and now 0v), am ditching the box as I don't trust myself with 240v stuff (I know I should of checked first but it was ok when I stored it a few months ago)

So for the time being I'm officially tipi only as I don't want to reverse the ribbon cable changes, for now at least

Will wait for the replacement 5.25 and 3.5 drives to arrive this coming week to fit in the PEB and then try to find an external box (or something) to fit the old drives in

c'est la vie

September 1

1 minute ago, arcadeshopper said:

doesn't matter what drive number you set it too, only matters its the last thing on the cable

Ok, thanks

September 1

2 minutes ago, Ksarul said:

On termination, you need the terminators at the end of each branch of the cable, so with internal and external drives, there will be a terminator at the end of each chain. Note: 3.5 drives have their terminators built in (and generally they are not removable, so they make good candidates for the end of a chain).

The other thing to note is that the standard controller from TI will only support three drives in its disk chain, while third party controllers (CorComp, Myarc, Atronic, BwG) support four.

Ok thanks. So making the 3.5 DSK2 will terminate the internal and what will become DSK4 is already terminated for the external. Just need to make sure I don’t mess up the order of the drives on the cable!

Im using a CorComp so have the 4 drive support

Many thanks

September 1

10 minutes ago, arcadeshopper said:

I want to say it needs to be at the end of both cables try just one and see what happens, if you get issues .. add the other

Ok thanks, will try that

While I decide if I want/need a Gotek I’ve ordered a new single 3.5” floppy drive (as it was only £15 delivered it’s disposable) to fit as DSK2 for a play with. Fitting it as DSK2 so I don’t have to fiddle with cables other than fitting an IDC plug to my floppy cable (hope I’ve got that right anyway)

many thanks

September 1

1 minute ago, Lee Stewart said:

Generally, you want the termination resistor pack on the drive at the physical end of the cable, regardless of its number.

...lee

Trouble is the controller will effectively be sitting in the middle of the cables so I’ll have 2 ends?

From what I’ve read on here they aren’t seen as 2 separate cables so I assume there will only be 1 terminator

Many thanks

September 1

20 minutes ago, Atari2600PAL said:

Could anyone please advise me where the termination should go if I have floppy drives attached to both the internal & external connectors on the FDC please?

Currently I have DSK1 & DSK2 internal & DSK3 (on order) will be external

I may also swap things around and put the current DSK1 & DSK2 back into their external case as DSK3/4 and put the on order DSK3 in the PEB as DSK1 (with, eventually, either a 3.5" or GoTek as DSK2)

Sorry again for all the questions

Many thanks

Sorry, I mean't to add

The controller manual seems to say only DSK3 (or DSK4 in the alternative setup) should have a termination pack installed

I get that the internal/external connector are really just one and the same thing, but wanted to be sure that it is only DSK3 (or DSK4) I terminate, regardless of where it is on the cabling?

Many thanks

September 1

Could anyone please advise me where the termination should go if I have floppy drives attached to both the internal & external connectors on the FDC please?

Currently I have DSK1 & DSK2 internal & DSK3 (on order) will be external

I may also swap things around and put the current DSK1 & DSK2 back into their external case as DSK3/4 and put the on order DSK3 in the PEB as DSK1 (with, eventually, either a 3.5" or GoTek as DSK2)

Sorry again for all the questions

Many thanks

September 1

6 hours ago, Ksarul said:

Another note: old school external floppy power supplies/cases are starting to get a bit pricey in their own right, so you might not want to bin it just yet--you might find an interested buyer close enough to make shipping reasonable.

Thanks, hadn't considered it had any value.

September 1

9 hours ago, arcadeshopper said:

yes it works but i recommend you not use the stock firmware get flashfloppy

Many thanks for the confirmation @arcadeshopper, good to know for the future when I can make more use of p-code

August 31

4 minutes ago, OLD CS1 said:

If you are not sharing disks with anyone else who might have a different 3.5" setup, and you have more of the same kind of drive around in case this one fails, this should not be an issue.

Thanks.

I've decided to just fit 5.25 360kb drives in the external case (a lot less hassle, no fiddling with cable layouts or conversion frames, and I have a lot of spare 5.25 disks and only a few 3.5), have just ordered the first drive. May leave it at one extra drive and later fit a gotek.

Many thanks

August 31

12 minutes ago, Atari2600PAL said:

I have no plans to switch to an 80 track controller

Maybe I'll give it a go, for the sake of £50, if the needed cable mods aren't too difficult to get my head around

Thanks

Actually I think I'll forget about 3.5" drives and just keep a long term look out on eBay for a couple of 40 track 5.25" to put in the external box as they should have drive selectors on them

August 31

37 minutes ago, jedimatt42 said:

It only creates an incompatibility with other people or yourself if you switch to an 80 track controller. So you have to ask yourself if that is an actual use case you have...

I have no plans to switch to an 80 track controller

Maybe I'll give it a go, for the sake of £50, if the needed cable mods aren't too difficult to get my head around

Thanks

August 31

21 minutes ago, mizapf said:

A Gotek drive emulates a floppy drive at the Shugart bus level, so it does not even know what a sector is or even a byte. It only delivers flux changes.

The only thing to consider is that only the HFE files can save special information that is outside of pure sector contents. Gotek can handle DSK files, but those only contain sector contents. As we're not talking about disk protection schemes but only about direct sector access, this should be OK. If needed, HFE files can be created with numerous tools from DSK, including my TIImageTool.

Thanks for the info

From what you say I can see that it should work in theory, but am wondering if anyone has actually used a gotek with the p-code card

Ideally, if I got one, I'd really want to use it only with real iron (other than using my laptop to format a USB stick for it and simply copying dsk file images from/to it) and not need any other utilities (I don't want to install anything, like java, on my laptop)

Many thanks

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